Posted on 06/04/2004 12:28:39 AM PDT by ambrose
Health Many HIV-Positive Men Don't Realize It: Study
By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 2 (HealthDayNews) -- A new British report suggests that one in 10 homosexual men who visit popular gay venues in London are infected with the AIDS virus, and a third of them don't realize it.
In another disturbing finding, the researchers found the percentage of gay men who admitted engaging in the most dangerous form of unsafe sex increased at a fast clip over the four-year study period.
The numbers won't come as a surprise to American researchers, who have been tracking similar trends in this country.
While it's easy to tell people what they should do to protect themselves from AIDS, encouraging change is a challenge because "there's a complex of factors that lead to people to engage in activities that are harmful," explained Tom Coates, an AIDS specialist and a professor of infectious disease at the University of California at Los Angeles.
British researchers surveyed 8,052 gay men in London five times between 1996 and 2000 at a variety of locales, including bars, nightclubs and bathhouses. The participants completed anonymous questionnaires. At the end of the study, 1,206 men provided samples of their saliva to be tested for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
The findings appear in the June issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The long delay in the release of the results is not unusual in the academic world, where it can take years for studies to become published.
Of the men tested in 2000, 11 percent turned out to be HIV-positive. But only a third knew it. The surveys didn't ask why the men hadn't gotten tested recently enough to find out that they were infected.
Researchers also found that the percentage of men surveyed who engaged in unprotected anal sex grew from 30 percent in 1996 to 42 percent in 2000.
However, the men who engage in the riskiest unsafe sex practices don't appear to be developing higher rates of HIV, said study co-author Julie Dodds, a research fellow at the Royal Free & University College Medical School in London.
The reasons for this discrepancy aren't clear, but she speculated that men may be more willing to openly discuss their sexual practices with researchers. Another possibility is that they're turning to strategies other than condom use to reduce their risk of infection, she added.
In the United States, a similar study completed from 1994 to 2000 suggested that one out of every 10 young gay men in the United States is HIV-positive, and 80 percent of them don't realize they're infected. In that study, researchers interviewed 5,719 gay and bisexual men aged 15 to 29 at bars, clubs and other venues in six large American cities.
Experts caution it's impossible to extrapolate survey-based findings to the entire gay male population because researchers only interview men at specific venues.
Other studies have suggested that American gay men are having more unsafe sex, perhaps because they aren't as worried that AIDS will kill them. The disease has largely become treatable over the last decade, and many HIV-infected people are living with few or no symptoms.
One major problem facing public health officials is the failure of HIV-infected men to refrain from unsafe sex. Often, the infected men feel they don't have a responsibility to disclose their illness. "We don't seem to be able to get ahead of that issue," Coates said.
Other factors, such as methamphetamine and alcohol use and depression, contribute to the spread of AIDS, he said. "Those of us who think about public health need to think about not just motivating people (to avoid AIDS), but dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues as well."
Another complication is the lack of access to health care among younger men, especially minorities, Coates added.
Medical researchers are developing new ways to prevent AIDS, such as microbicide creams and drugs that people could take before they have sex. But they "may or may not help," Coates said, depending on whether people bother to use them.
More information
Get details about everything from AIDS treatment to vaccine development from the federal HIV/AIDS Education & Research Center.
How utterly and completely horrible.
Being in serious irresponsible denial is different from being "unaware".
Yes horrible. Look at what a small minority has done to the sexual morals of this country. Not to mention the health disaster of Aids and the fact that Aids research get more money than Cancer research.
"A new British report suggests that one in 10 homosexual[s]...who visit popular gay venues...are infected with the AIDS virus...a third...don't realize it...[and] the researchers found the percentage of gay men who...engag[ed] in the most dangerous form of unsafe sex increased at a fast clip over the four-year study period."
I am shocked. SHOCKED! S-H-O-C-K-E-D!
How is this possible after the most widespread information campaign in the history of medical science? After all, aren't gays just like any other segment of the populace? Aren't they really just like you and me? What gives here?
Obviously, this horrible set-back is the fault of hate-crime and uneducated heterosexuals that force gays into these practices by the lack of acceptance in mainstream society. Obviously, more money is needed to reach children in Kindergarten before it is too late. Obviously, American taxpayers are not doing their fair share.
In an article titled "Bug Chasers: The men who long to be HIV+" [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=17380], writer Gregory Freemen, based on comments by public health officials, asserts that 25 percent of the 40,000 new AIDS infections every year are gay men who have sought out the disease. He also exposed how some gay men have eroticized getting AIDS as the last most extreme sex act in a community where all else has been tried.
"Bug Chasers and the Thought Police" by Tammy Bruce http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/1/29/95042.shtml
This isn't a matter of these men not realizing they're infected--some are intentionally seeking to become HIV+, receive a medical diagnosis as such, and then continue to have unprotected sex. They are knowingly and willing perpetuating the spread of HIV.
Homosexual Agenda Ping - Nasty News in the Morning Alert!
There's so much in this article - post #2 by Caipirabob really sums it all up.
The pro-homosexual bias is very evident in the article - so young, especially minority homosexuals don't have "access" to health care - aren't there free AIDS clinics or places to get tested for AIDS all over the place???
Homosexuals with AIDS don't FEEL a responsibility for telling their (numerous) sex partners that they have AIDS? This is stated in such a calm, cool, neutral tone. IOW, such AIDS carriers are purposely giving others a fatal, horrible disease. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
It's impossible to force sex addicted emotionally and metally disturbed homosexuals many of who abuse alcohol and use drugs to start acting responsibily. Posters at bus stops won't do it. Reparative therapy and a change of heart might.
The media is really trying hard to pretend that the Emperor has clothes.
Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.
Also they see their friends with AIDS getting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of medications that are now keeping them alive and fairly healthy --- so AIDS is no longer a big deal to them --- they're sex addicts and AIDS doesn't kill the addiction.
"One major problem facing public health officials is the failure of HIV-infected men to refrain from unsafe sex. Often, the infected men feel they don't have a responsibility to disclose their illness. "We don't seem to be able to get ahead of that issue," Coates said."
And why should they feel they have a responsibility?? The AIDS (ie; Liberals)crowd has made every gay person infected with this disease a "VICTIM" and therefore not accountable for their actions.
Its a horrible disease and I wouldnt wish it on anyone, but it IS preventable and the gay community MUST take responsibility for their actions.
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